US associate attorney general visits Iowa, discusses grant funding
The Iowa Department of Public Safety hosted a roundtable discussion Wednesday with U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward to talk about the local impact of grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens, in a press conference at the department's office in Des Moines after the roundtable, said that over the last 10 years, Iowa has received roughly $63 million dollars in DOJ funding. The roundtable itself was closed to media.
Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens, joined by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, discusses the local impact of federal funding on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.
“Here at the Department of Public Safety specifically, DOJ grant funding has been used to modernize Iowa's criminal justice history repository, the sex offender registry, it’s been used to target large-scale drug trafficking by funding task forces across the state,” Bayens said. “It's been used to protect our children and schools by supporting the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Governor's School Safety Bureau, and finally, it's been used to ensure that the Division of Criminal Investigations’ criminalistics laboratory remains on the cutting edge of forensic science as we pursue justice for our victims.”
Iowa grant programs currently in effect include the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant, Project Safe Neighborhood, State Crisis Intervention Program, COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force, COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program and the John R. Justice program.
“There really is nothing controversial about public safety,” Woodward said. “I’ve been motivated from the day I took the oath of office to work with my partners in state and local law enforcement to make sure they have the resources they need to provide that safety.”
Woodward also mentioned a recent grant the Iowa Attorney General’s office received from the DOJ.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced on Monday, Aug. 17, the office was awarded nearly $4 million dollars in a grant from the DOJ to target fraud and major financial crimes.
Bird spoke alongside Woodward, thanking him for the grant, which will allow the state attorney general’s office to hire and assign five new prosecutors. The prosecutors will serve as Special Assistant United States Attorneys across the state. Three of the prosecutors will be in the Southern District of Iowa and two will be in the Northern District of Iowa.
The prosecutors will focus mostly on combating Medicaid and public benefit fraud, but are also able to investigate and prosecute drug and human trafficking crimes.
The grant spans three years, through May 31, 2029.
“We really appreciate that commitment and that partnership.” Bird said. “We want to hold anyone who commits fraud accountable, because we know that there's no acceptable level of fraud, and that it's deeply wrong to steal hard-earned taxpayer dollars from a government program.”
